The city and county of Fresno got millions in free COVID money. Here’s how they spent it (and abused it)

Fresno fraudulently spent COVID money on potholes, parks and other local desires.  It is possible they spent more money and give aways to donors and friends, then on keeping the people of Fresno healthy.

“For example: Fresno County allocated about $43.5 million toward its public health response to the pandemic. That included $18 million toward its general ongoing COVID-19 response, and another $10 million to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide more health services inside county jail facilities.

The City of Fresno allocated about $29.5 million toward city infrastructure, from street paving to fixing curbs and gutters. City officials also put about $18.8 million toward more than a dozen city park projects.

At the same time, the county and the city each allocated about $74 million toward government costs, including employee salaries, county equipment, upgrades to county facilities and administrative costs related to running their ARPA programs.”

I hope the Trump Administration demands the money back—with interest.  If they refuse, they cut the amount of Federal money Fresno gets till it pays off the money they stole from health needs.

The city and county of Fresno got millions in free COVID money. Here’s how they spent it

Pandemic relief funds were put to use in a range of ways, from vital health and infrastructure programs to employee payroll and overtime.

by Omar Shaikh Rashad, Fresnoland,  1/3/25    https://fresnoland.org/2025/01/03/arpa-funds/?utm_medium=email

What’s at stake:

When the federal government distributed pandemic relief funds to local governments across the country, Fresno County received $194 million and the City of Fresno got $170 million. Both governments put about $74 million toward government costs, including payroll, facilities and equipment. They also put tens of millions toward infrastructure, health and a number of vital programs.

During the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government doled out an eye-popping $350 billion to local governments across the United States.

Organized under the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal program was President Joe Biden’s earliest effort to advance equity in the face of the devastating public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, the enormous pile of ARPA money — which came with strings attached — made big headlines, but now, just a few short years and one long election cycle later, local governments have allocated all of it. While the deadline to spend the funds is at the end of 2026, the deadline to obligate the funds was Dec. 31. 

Of all the funds disbursed, Fresno County received $194 million and the City of Fresno got $170 million. The City of Fresno stretched its ARPA funds to about $178 million thanks to accrued interest, according to city officials.

Fresnoland analyzed both Fresno governments’ ARPA allocations, and grouped them into different categories based on their uses. Both put federal pandemic relief funds toward a range of vital investments — from infrastructure and health services to parks and financial assistance for families and small businesses. 

For example: Fresno County allocated about $43.5 million toward its public health response to the pandemic. That included $18 million toward its general ongoing COVID-19 response, and another $10 million to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide more health services inside county jail facilities.

The City of Fresno allocated about $29.5 million toward city infrastructure, from street paving to fixing curbs and gutters. City officials also put about $18.8 million toward more than a dozen city park projects.

At the same time, the county and the city each allocated about $74 million toward government costs, including employee salaries, county equipment, upgrades to county facilities and administrative costs related to running their ARPA programs. 

Both governments also surveyed residents on how to spend ARPA funds. Respondents to the county’s survey gave public health the most top-priority votes, followed by homelessness and community wellness.

Respondents to the city’s survey gave homelessness the most top-priority votes, followed by public safety and infrastructure.

Homelessness was the ninth largest group of ARPA allocations for Fresno County. It was the fourth largest group of allocations for the City of Fresno.

Fresno County Spokesperson Sonja Dosti said the county’s ARPA funds went toward key programs and investments that had transformational impacts. Fresno County’s entire response to Fresnoland’s inquiries on its ARPA allocations are available here. 

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said the city’s ARPA investments made a significant impact.

“We were able to meet the needs within our community that otherwise would not have been met if it wasn’t for these dollars,” Dyer told Fresnoland.

City puts $50 million for employee payroll

At about $50.9 million, the city’s largest group of ARPA allocations was employee payroll. That included putting $9.6 million toward police salaries and $10.1 million for police overtime. City officials also allocated $4.6 million to cover police union contract costs.

City officials also allocated about $1 million to cover the payroll cost of newly hired firefighters that weren’t covered by the federal SAFER grant, along with another $1.1 million to cover firefighter overtime pay, necessary to meet minimum staffing levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Officials also put $2.8 million toward two fire drill schools, which “paid personnel costs to add first responder members for emergency fire, medical aid, and rescue services,” and led to the hiring of 42 firefighters, according to the city’s 2024 ARPA report. Fresno’s Assistant City Manager Ruthie Quinto told Fresnoland that some of the funds also covered equipment but did not share how much.

The city’s largest payroll allocation was $17.5 million for firefighter salaries for the 2025 fiscal year, which began in July and ends next June. Police and fire payroll typically come from the city’s general fund — a bucket of funds that city officials can use however they want since it has no restricted uses.

“ARPA was utilized to cover overtime as well as salaries because at that time, with our general fund not being as solvent as we would like it to be, it gave us the opportunity to be able to meet, not just police, but all of the labor unions in our city,” Dyer said.

Dyer also added that ARPA funds helped support the city in negotiating a three-year contract with labor unions representing city employees. Quinto also told Fresnoland that federal pandemic relief funds helped defray lower-than-expected sales tax revenue in recent years.

“ARPA really helped us to maintain and sustain the very critical bargaining agreements and the implementation of the SAFER grant with the 77 new firefighters,” Quinto told Fresnoland. “ARPA did exactly what it was meant to do, which was to support us during a time of great need coming out of and recovering from the pandemic.”

The City of Fresno also allocated $14.49 million on city facilities, which included $7.7 million for electrical upgrades to the city’s municipal services center, $3.98 million for improvements to city parking garages and $1.5 million to expand office space for the city’s planning and development department. 

City officials also put $8.5 million in pandemic relief funds toward equipment costs, ranging from $5.3 million for police vehicles to $140,305 for police helicopter costs. 

“Whether it’s employee salaries, overtime, equipment, city equipment, city facilities — all of those equate to city service,” Dyer said. “So the more money that we allocated in those areas the higher level of service that we were able to provide.”

County puts $30 million toward facility and tech upgrades

Fresno County allocated about half as much as the city toward employee payroll — a total of about 23.5 million, of which $10 million was used for premium pay for county employees.

County officials also put about $30.4 million toward its facilities and technological capabilities, which includes $10 million for cybersecurity improvements and $5 million to establish a public health data system.

County officials also put $6 million toward improving heating and ventilation inside county facilities. Dosti, the county spokesperson, said that investment was a preventative measure to help prevent the spread of airborne viruses. 

“These types of public facility improvements strengthen the County delivery of services to constituents by improving the effectiveness of indoor/outdoor air exchange and improve air-quality and ventilation systems in congregate areas for employees and for the visitors of those public facilities,” Dosti said.

Fresno County also allocated $10 million for revenue replacement. It’s unclear exactly where those funds went, and the county did not provide that information before publication.

County officials also allocated $7.9 million on equipment. They also put $2.5 million toward administrative costs from running its ARPA program — compared to the city allocating $134,480 on administrative ARPA costs.

Vital investments in health and infrastructure 

Within the $43.5 million that Fresno County allocated for COVID-19 response — its largest group of ARPA allocations — officials distributed $6 million to help cover increased labor costs during the pandemic at Saint Agnes Medical Center, Community Regional Medical Center and Clovis Community Medical Center. 

Additionally, some of the $18 million that county officials allocated to cover ongoing COVID-19 response was for “extended SPSL,” also known as COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for employees, Dosti said.

Separately, Fresno County also allocated about $8 million toward increasing health access in more than a dozen rural Fresno County communities, in partnership with UC San Francisco and Saint Agnes Medical Center. The county held more than 100 rural mobile health events, which provided residents with health screenings and immunizations, and also connected them with primary care physicians.

Fresno County also put $35 million toward water-related infrastructure, impacting communities in Riverdale, Malaga, Caruthers, Mendota, Raisin City, and Biola among others. Of the county’s infrastructure investments, the largest was $6 million for the Elkhorn Recharge Facility project. 

With an expected completion by 2027, the project would greatly impact water sustainability for members of the North Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency. Dosti said these investments “build multi-year drought resilience by improving necessary water infrastructure to promote water availability, recharge, and conservation.”

County officials also allocated $9.36 million for park improvements, which went toward the historic Kearney Park and a number of rural county parks. These ARPA funds also covered improvements to the community pool in Calwa, as well as parks in El Porvenir and Raisin City.

Did leaders spend enough on housing and homelessness?

The City of Fresno put about $18.1 million toward addressing homelessness. One big allocation, about $11.8 million, was for purchasing and converting the Clarion Motel on Blackstone Avenue into a homeless shelter. 

Fresno County ended up allocating about $5.95 million on homelessness projects — which included $2.4 million to help fund the Fresno Mission’s construction of its City Center Campus: a four-story, 73 unit building that would provide emergency and transitional housing to single women, families and vulnerable youth.

The City of Fresno also put about $17.8 million into housing and housing-related projects. Fresno County allocated about $3.95 million into housing projects.

Amina Flores-Becker, Fresno County’s deputy administrative officer, said over email that homelessness is a much bigger issue within Fresno’s city limits, at least in terms of numbers.

“In attempting to compare the City to the County, it should be highlighted that the majority of the County’s ARPA investments in housing and homelessness greatly and disproportionately benefit the unhoused and unsheltered population that resides within the City of Fresno,” Flores-Becker said. 

“It is undeniable that the City and County are two very different agencies, with very different responsibilities and jurisdictions,” Flores-Becker added. “To attempt to compare them absent their jurisdictions and responsibilities is absurd.”

Separately, the state and federal governments disbursed tens of millions in aid early in the pandemic — through local governments — for renters struggling to pay their landlords. Fresno County distributed at least $30 million in rental assistance, and the City of Fresno distributed at least $67 million.

Did officials listen to residents’ survey responses?

In the surveys that the county and city asked residents to fill out, respondents were asked to rank the importance of a select number of options for how ARPA funds should be allocated. 

In the county’s ARPA survey, respondents chose from public health, homelessness, community wellness, infrastructure and broadband by ranking each 1 through 5. County staff took the average of each option’s ranking and concluded that all but broadband were ranked equally by survey respondents.

However, residents gave public health the most top-priority votes — the most out of all other options — followed by homelessness and community wellness. 

Dosti, the county spokesperson, did not answer whether Fresno County’s ARPA allocations matched up with where residents wanted them to go. However, she did say that the survey results helped influence the “foundation of potential ARPA investments.” 

She also said the survey was one aspect of the county’s effort to get public feedback on how ARPA funds should be used, along with two rounds of distributing pandemic relief funds to local organizations that applied for them. 

The City of Fresno’s survey also asked residents to rank what they think ARPA funds should be spent on, but they had to choose between infrastructure, public safety, homelessness, economic revitalization, economic recovery and broadband.

Public safety received the most top-priority votes, followed by homelessness and infrastructure. The city’s largest group of ARPA allocations went to employee payroll, and about 95% of allocations covered police and fire payroll costs, including salaries and overtime. 

“When you’re an elected official, you believe you’re very aware what the true needs are within a community,” Dyer told Fresnoland, “but until you actually survey people, or you knock on doors in neighborhoods or have community forums, you’re not 100% certain if your beliefs as an elected official are truly reflective of the neighborhoods.”

Dyer said the city’s survey results reflect what city officials allocated federal pandemic relief dollars toward.  

“It was refreshing to see that the community survey validated what I believed as a mayor — and what our council believed — in terms of where the money should be spent,” Dyer said.